Five Years Later
by ShinAyasaki
Summary: Just two professors having a chat over lunch break. Takes place in a Magic School AU.


**Setting: Beacon – Vale's Premier Arcane Academy for the Young and Gifted**

"Don't they remind you of ourselves at that age?"

Glynda peered up from the mountain of paperwork stacked atop her desk, her spectacled gaze focusing on the woman leaning lazily against a wall next to an open window, staring down at the throng of students below wandering campus during Beacon's standard lunch hour. The bowl of almonds Glynda usually kept at an end table for soothing nervous visitors was held in one hand, as the other popped one of the little legumes into an open mouth. Dark, brunette hair cascaded down a dangerous face, coming to rest at a set of thin shoulders as Cinder Fall's golden irises turned to meet Glynda's own eyes.

"Of course they do," said Glynda matter of factly, marking her signature on a requisition form. "It's not as if it's been that long since we were just students ourselves." She grabbed another set of sheets, bound by paperclip, and skimmed through the title page. "Unless you were referring to specific individuals?"

"Indeed I was," said Cinder, nodding her head out the window at the crowd below. Students of all shapes and sizes wandered Beacon's vast courtyard and the surrounding fields. Some were lined up at the various food carts ready to exchange their lien for something more edible, while others had claimed tables and grassy hillocks to enjoy their meals and downtime. Cinder grinned as her stare reached one of the more isolated hillocks, her eyes picking up the distinct shades of yellow and white.

"Yang Xiao Long and Weiss Schnee," finished Cinder, her smile growing wider as she caught the beginning of yet another skirmish in the great feud between the two vitriolic friends. A pair of other students, one red and one black, tried to calm the arguing pair, but it was too late to stop the battle, and a crowd of onlookers slowly formed. Some of the more artistic students had begun immortalizing their tale in a series of volumes entitled, ' _A Song of Ice and Fire_.' Though it was by no means choice reading material, the concept amused Cinder enough to keep her interested in its latest pieces.

The shuffling of paper paused as Glynda pondered the comparison. "Really," she noted blandly as her pen set to move again. "An interesting if useless observation," she said, clearly intent on ending this chatter.

"I'm glad you think so," continued Cinder, heedless of Glynda's obvious disinterest. "It just makes sense. The two are fire and ice; polar opposites. They seemingly fight on a daily basis. Akin to us, especially at that age, wouldn't you say?"

Glynda hummed in wordless acknowledgement as she stamped a form, which was enough for Cinder to continue.

"I feel that, as professors, we should encourage cooperation and mutual interest between them. All for the sake of intra-house bonding of course." She smiled a shark-like grin. "I'm certain Ozpin would be delighted to foster such relationships as well."

"We are not playing matchmaker for students," snapped Glynda, "And you are _not_ bringing this to Headmaster Ozpin's attention!" Glynda was fully aware of Ozpin's unnaturally strong fixation – some would go so far as to say fetish – for team bonding.

"Oh you don't have to help, Glynda," said Cinder placatingly. "In fact, you don't have to do anything at all. The two share my 3 o'clock lectures on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I just need to come up with a decent partner exercise and watch the sparks fly." She chuckled. "I don't mean that literally, of course."

Glynda sighed and looked up from her paperwork. "Cinder. This is the first semester since your employment that I have decided to not sit in on your lectures, and my days have become significantly more productive since. Don't make me go back to holding your leash," she warned sternly.

Cinder snorted, partly in amusement, mostly in annoyance. "I don't _need_ you holding my hand you know. Honestly, if you'd just given me this leeway from the beginning I could have covered a lot more material during those semesters."

"You know the rules, Cinder. And no matter what our personal relation, I'm still your senior in Beacon affairs, and more importantly, your probation officer."

"I don't need a probation officer," snapped Cinder, crossing her arms defiantly as a pout marred her features. "It was just a youthful indiscretion that got a bit out of hand. That's all."

Glynda raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "Cinder, you tried to permanently block out the sun." She leaned forward past the stacks of paperwork framing her face so Cinder could see her disapproval clearly. "And you almost succeeded."

Cinder looked away, not wanting Glynda to see the red on her face. "Yeah, well… Who knew the moon was flammable? I sure didn't. We all got to find that out together." She turned her gaze back. "I still say this is too much."

"Yes, because that singular contribution to the advancement of knowledge more than makes up for the destruction you caused," deadpanned Glynda. "It took three weeks to fix the damn moon, Cinder. Three weeks. _And we have magic!_ "

The former evildoer sighed in defeat. "Ah, whatever. I'm tired of arguing this anyways. Yes, I admit I did a bad thing. Can we go back to gossiping about our students now?"

"That's half of what I want to hear about the subject. Where's the other half?"

"And yes, I got off very lucky to have you as my probation officer." Her lips curled into a smirk. "After all, no one else looks, sounds, feels, or tastes quite like you do, my dear."

The combat instructor retrieved her pen, a pink hue on her face as she grabbed the next form from her to-do stack to drown her embarrassment in productivity. "I would hope you didn't discover this through any hands-on method," she grumbled.

Cinder let out a laugh, before sauntering over to Glynda's desk. She leaned over the blonde, smirking when her eyes caught Glynda peering over the rim of her glasses. "What's the matter, Glynda?" she asked, delicately plucking another almond from the bowl. "Jealous?"

The combat instructor blinked, forcing her gaze downward when Cinder started licking the almond in a highly suggestive manner, her grip on her pen tightening ever so slightly. "I believe you mentioned prattling on about our students some more, didn't you?" she ground out.

"Oh? Can't take the heat?" teased Cinder as she licked her fingers.

Glynda exhaled deeply, shoring up her patience with this woman before explaining the oh-so obvious. "I can work normally through your aimless conversation. Compounding that with a rather obvious attempt to seduce me significantly impacts my productivity. That said, you wanted to gossip, now gossip."

"Mmm, oh very well," relented Cinder. The brunette moved away, humming as she sought out then loudly collapsed into one of the leather rolling chairs reserved for visitors. She reclined, resting her feet on a table before returning to her earlier train of thought. "As I was saying, it would be simply remarkable if Yang and Weiss were to become an item, don't you agree?"

"No, I don't," declared Glynda with finality. Cinder pouted, not that Glynda was looking. "And truly, I don't think Miss Xiao Long is the best exemplar of a younger you either."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. I think her sister represents you more accurately," said Glynda dismissively.

" _Ruby Rose?!_ " exclaimed Cinder incredulously, the almond she had been attempting to toss into her mouth unceremoniously falling to the floor. Glynda made a mental note to pick it up later. "You think that I'm more like Ruby Rose?!"

"Is it really so hard to believe?"

"Yes!" Cinder thought back to all the times the crimson clad girl dropped a potion or miscast a spell, incidents that tended to have rather disastrous consequences and required her direct hand in cleaning up the mess. "She's earnest, I grant you, but she's clumsy and uncoordinated."

"She's also stubborn, loyal, intelligent, physically affectionate, ignorant of consequences, a natural prodigy, she can hold a grudge, and she knows how to get what she wants with appropriate usage of her eyes and tear ducts. In short, she has many hidden depths that her sister lacks. It is these depths that make her unpredictable."

"So I'm unpredictable now, am I?"

"Absolutely. Ten years ago I never would have imagined you practicing dark magic. Five years ago I never would have imagined you having a successful career as a professor. Perhaps in another five years you'll go back to practicing dark magic and you'll actually succeed this time."

"Really?" Cinder deadpanned. "You think Ruby Rose is going to be the next me?"

"The possibility certainly exists, and were it not for her moral compasses both internal and external I would say it to be dangerously likely."

"So I have no moral compass?" Cinder would have felt insulted had this topic not been brought up so many times in the past. Usually by Cinder herself.

"I reiterate," said Glynda, enunciating her next words noticeably. "You set the moon on fire. Maliciously."

"Accidentally," corrected Cinder.

"Furthermore, please think back to your circle of friends during those years and tell me they would have attempted to provide constructive assistance under any circumstance."

As she followed the blonde's sage instructions, Cinder's mind suddenly became filled with memories of recreational drug use and the regular mocking of others' weaknesses and failings. In hindsight, perhaps she should have put more thought into her associates. "Well…"

"You were the best of the lot, Cinder. Ironic, certainly, but no less true."

"Hmm. Ten years ago, I never would have thought you'd ever say that about me, much less to my face."

"What ever happened to them anyway?" asked Glynda in idle curiosity, finishing another small stack of papers.

"Roman's a used broom salesman, Mercury's doing time for insurance fraud, Adam's doing longer time for attempted murder, Neo runs her own ice cream parlor, and Emerald works under Neo, in more ways than one," listed Cinder. Even though she rarely spoke to her old circle in person, she still kept up with their lives via social media. And occasionally, police reports.

"That last sentence clause was not necessary."

"But not unexpected, nor unappreciated," grinned Cinder winningly.

"Of course," deadpanned Glynda in false agreement.

Cinder stuck out her tongue playfully. She laughed as she saw Glynda furrow her eyebrows, debating whether or not to make a rude hand gesture. "I'm still going to have to disagree with you about Rose, though. She lacks the blatant disregard for authority her sister flaunts."

"How very shallow of you."

"But it's the perfect trait that'll go with Schnee! Schnee learns to loosen up, Xiao Long learns there are limits. What else is there to say?"

Glynda stamped another form. "Does this desire of yours to pair up our students stem purely from the belief that, because they resemble us, they will enjoy a lasting, loving relationship?"

Cinder mulled the question over for a few seconds, swirling the words around in her head both mentally and physically. "I suppose," she admitted. "After all, who doesn't have a few mistakes they'd go back and fix?"

"You do realize they are significantly further along at that age than we were? Unlike us, they're actually friends," Glynda pointed out.

"You didn't think we were friends back then?" asked Cinder playfully. She was more than aware of the relationship, or lack thereof, they shared back then.

The blonde instructor grunted noncommittally, stamping another paper before she replied. "At best, you were a nuisance. At worst, you were the bane of my existence."

"Now, now, that went both ways too." The brunette chuckled to herself, missing Glynda's annoyed muttering. "Not at first, admittedly." She hummed, her mind's eye turning back the clock to fresher days and less responsibility. "You were always my favorite target," she continued, unaffected by Glynda's indignant grunt, "So prim, so proper, unwilling to retaliate out of some sense of higher morals."

Cinder thought back to the time she'd coated Glynda's uniform with itching powder, revelling in the memory of the blonde fighting off the temptation to tear her clothes off and roll around in the grass for relief. She didn't, of course, but Cinder caught her in the shower drenching herself in purifying water, uniform clinging to her wet skin as the brunette watched appreciatively. She frowned as she remembered what happened afterwards.

"Then you planted the crying cactus in my room and set the prefects on me."

"I did no such thing," denied Glynda blandly, though the slight upturn at the corner of her mouth suggested otherwise.

Cinder scoffed, unconvinced. "I have to say; that little riposte of yours made me see you for what you really were: a worthy rival." She smiled. "Cunning. Determined. Quick. Relentless. And even though I never really thought about it back then, incredibly sexy too."

"Yes, flattery will get you everywhere," remarked Glynda, unamused by the overt patronization. "For the last time, Cinder: No playing matchmaker!" snapped Glynda sternly, sending a menacing glare to her counterpart.

"Darn," pouted Cinder. "Why won't you at least consider it?" she pressed, "You might find it fun!"

"No more discussion. If you pursue this matter, there _will_ be consequences, Cinder Fall!"

"Glynda!" whined Cinder.

"Enough. No." Glynda pushed her glasses up, her eyes passing over the clock. Lunch time was over, and apparently had been for a while now. She frowned. "And don't you have somewhere to be at this time?"

Cinder blinked. Slowly, she turned to look at the time. "Bleeding Beowolves!" she shouted. "I'm late for my own lecture!" She quickly tidied herself up before bursting out of Glynda's office. "See ya!" she called as the pounding of her feet echoed around the office.

Glynda merely sighed and shook her head, returning to her paperwork as a caring smile crossed her face.

* * *

It was late when Glynda returned to her quarters, the courtyard bell tower chiming several notes as she pushed open the door. The space inside was constructed to be luxurious, a living area designed for the elite to rest their laurels as they unwound from the daily tribulations of existence; it was a rather stark contrast to Glynda's preferred style, a rather Spartan setup that emphasized functionality over aesthetics.

But tonight, that contrast seemed rather dulled, for the foyer of her small abode was filled with dozens of scented candles strategically placed to offer as much warmth as possible to the oft cold room, dustings of rose petals highlighting the path to her bedroom. She wore a bemused expression as she followed the trail, nudging open the door to behold the latest of Cinder's romantic overtures.

She raised an eyebrow at the familiar sight sitting at the edge of her bed, a coy smile beaming at her as a finger played idly with a loose lock of brunette hair. Glynda blinked. "I see you still kept your old uniform."

Cinder chuckled lowly. "You know me. I'm sentimental. I have a spare for you waiting in the bathroom if you'd be so inclined."

Glynda smiled wryly as she sauntered over to the professor-turned-student. "No, I don't think so," she purred lowly. She reached the end of the bed, bringing her face to within a few inches of Cinder's as she locked gazes with those smoldering eyes alight with the flames of passion. She wordlessly pushed Cinder to the bed. "You've been quite the naughty student, Miss Fall," she began. "Over a dozen infractions in the past week alone. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Cinder grinned victoriously. "Bite me."

Glynda obliged wholeheartedly.


End file.
